


there is a charm to her

by dryswallow



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Birthday Date, F/F, birthday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-03 00:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1724651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryswallow/pseuds/dryswallow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mari takes Asuka on a birthday date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	there is a charm to her

**Author's Note:**

> for wagamamapuu. <3

i.

The mirror reflects a face that Asuka finds uncomfortably familiar. She pulls at her hair with agitated hands, holding it back, letting it fall over one shoulder and then the other. The framing makes no difference; it's her twenty-third birthday and she still looks fourteen. No matter how much time passes, her body refuses to grow and change the way it should.

No one has bothered to give them a satisfactory explanation for it, and Asuka's sure it's because they don't actually have one. Ritsuko still calls them for tests sometimes, taking blood samples and swabs, but it feels more for show than anything else. And Misato, who once would have approached the situation with humour and her careless adult insight, has grown cold and distant. Years ago Asuka hated her for it, but now she can see that it's because Misato has been pressed so thin, to the point where she has nothing left to give to anyone. The fact that her two pilots look years younger than their actual ages is inconsequential in the face of everything else.

Asuka reaches down to pull a wrinkled yellow sundress out from beneath a pile of other clothes. After months of wearing nothing but a plugsuit or sweats, it would feel like a crime not to dress up on her day off. She's just finished pulling on a cardigan when she hears a spirited knock on the door.

“Let's get going, princess!” Mari calls from outside. “It's your special day!”

Instead of waiting outside for an answer, Mari opens the door and let herself in. She sits on the edge of the bed, watching as Asuka pins back sections of hair.

“You look niiice,” Mari trills. “Haven't seen that dress in a while!”

“Thanks,” Asuka says. “But I mean, I'm not going to look sloppy on my birthday.”

“You never look anything close to sloppy,” Mari says. “Which is impressive, given the circumstances sometimes.”

Asuka snorts.

“It's true!” Mari continues. “Even when we're all sweaty and messed up from piloting or whatever, you look really good!”

“Okay, okay, stop being gross.” With the final pin in place, Asuka turns around. Mari grins when they lock eyes. Mari may be strange, but she has a knack for conveying sincerity. Her compliments have made Asuka's chest inflate with sureness and warmth.

“You can flirt with me more later,” Asuka says. “Let's go.”

“Who said I was flirting~?”

“You're not very subtle. Come on.”

Asuka pulls on her boots and slips out the door, confident that Mari will be close behind.

 

ii.

This year, Asuka got lucky. On the same day as her birthday, the Wunder has been scheduled to land and refill their supplies in one of the few places Wille isn't refused access on political basis. Misato, as stern as she has become, approved leave for Mari and Asuka to venture out into the city for the afternoon.

As soon as their feet touch land, Mari pulls Asuka away from the docks and towards the main streets. The market is overflowing with activity. Its streets are lined with stalls selling food and wares, and musicians play on the corners, their instrument cases filling up with coins tossed in by passers-by. Asuka hooks her arm through Mari's as they weave through the crowd, keeping her close.

“Don't get distracted,” she says. “You'll get lost again, like last time.”

“I wasn't lost, I was just-”

“Taking a detour? It's not a detour if you don't know where you're going!”

Mari giggles loudly, aware of the stares being directed their way. She's sure that not all of those stares are lingering on her; it's Asuka's bright hair and confident strides that really draws the attention of those in the crowd around them. She is a light that pulls them towards her, even as they glance warily at her eye-patch and the adult expression she wears. And for her part, Asuka blooms under the attention. She smiles, becoming more and more showy in her confidence as she engages with kind salespeople and friendly locals willing to give them directions or recommendations. There is a charm to her that comes out in full force on days like these. And nothing feels better when Asuka focuses all of it on Mari.

After an hour of shopping and wandering, the two of them end up with a bag full of sandwiches, cakes, and other treats.

“Where should we go to eat all this?” Mari wonders out loud, glancing around at the crowd.

“Do you think we could get up to one of those?” Asuka points up to one of several low-rise buildings that have roofs overflowing with greenery. People can be seen leaning on the railing, looking at the city below.

Mari smiles. It feels like a challenge.

“I'm not sure,” she says. “But we're going to try!”

 

iii.

The wind that pushes through the rooftop garden is cool, unlike the hot and ashy air of the streets below. Mari and Asuka find a free spot of grass and claim it as their own, spreading out their lunch. Asuka wrinkles her nose but settles on the ground without complaint.

Even in the late season, the garden smells fragrant and full. Bees are moving unhurried from flower to flower, buzzing softly as they work. Every now and then Mari can smell an undercurrent of something sour and burnt beneath the fresh smells of the garden, but it's always gone as quick as it comes. It blows in from the direction of the sea. Despite how many years have passed, the bright red colour of the water refuses to fade. It laps at the edges of the city, waves rolling back to reveal the tops of buildings swallowed in the aftermath of Second Impact.

After they've finished off the last of their sandwich, Mari reaches into the bag again to retrieve a small box of cakes and tarts. She places the box on the ground between Asuka and herself, unable to help the grin stretching across her face.

“You look like you're going to start singing,” Asuka says, eyes narrowing.

“Oh, you caught me! Guilty as charged!”

“You don't have to, you know.”

Mari smirks. “Do you not want me to, or are you just trying to play it cool?”

“Hah! I just don't want you to embarrass either of us in front of so many people.”

“Singing isn't embarrassing,” Mari says with a shrug. “It's your birthday, girl. You call the shots.”

Asuka sighs. “Fine! Go ahead.”

Despite her protests, Asuka seems pleased when Mari makes good on her offer and launches into a lilting rendition of Happy Birthday. By the time the song finishes, the garden-goers closest to them have quieted, listening as Mari sings. A few of them applaud, smiling fondly.

The two of them must look like normal girls, Asuka realizes. Two normal girls taking the day off from school or work to celebrate a birthday, as friends, as girlfriends.

Wouldn't it be nice if that were true?

Her life feels as though it has been chopped into pieces. Before her mother. After her mother. Before Eva-02. Before Shinji. During Shinji. Without Shinji.

Before the Angel corrupted her. And here, now, in the aftermath.

Each change happens abruptly, giving her no choices and no time for transition. The before and after feel like different worlds entirely. It's been so long since she was something close to a normal girl that the idea sits with her strangely. Even as a child, she was never really normal. She was held up as exceptional, in her own eyes and in the eyes of others. Even now, as an adult, it's the only standard she knows how to live by.

At twenty-three, nothing is what she thought it would be. Like Misato, it feels like there are parts of her that have hardened, parts that she has hidden, parts that she unknowingly let slip away. She does not consider herself to be the boastful and foolish child she once was, even though that is who she sees every time she catches her reflection in the glass.

Mari is one of the only parts of her life that has allowed her to take her time. At first, Asuka hated Mari with the same venom she hated everything else around her that left her on shaky legs. As time went on and battles were fought, a necessary trust began between them. Their trust slowly but clumsily grew into friendship, and then, as if it had a mind of its own, kept growing until it became something else as well. Somehow, Mari got under her skin. And at some point along the line, Asuka decided that she liked it.

A gust of wind comes through, pushing through the holes in Asuka's sweater to leave cold touches on her skin. It brings her back to the present, back into the body that contains her. Next to her, Mari is grinning. Her eyes are wide and joyful, focused wholly on Asuka. The same warm reassurance Asuka felt that morning in her bedroom blooms again in her chest.

“Happy birthday, princess,” Mari says, leaning over to plant a kiss on the high curve of Asuka's cheekbone. “Now, let's eat these cakes!”


End file.
